A while ago, I cleaned up my old Galaxy Note 4, got it registered on "Ting" and let someone use it. And she seemed happy with it. But lately it's been having problems. Every so often it flashed up a system message like this:  

Additionally, sometimes the phone would just power off. And finally (but to me most disturbingly) the camera would no longer work normally; rather the preview picture was constantly moving and jittery:

I thought the error message might be related to the fact that when the phone was new (December 2014!) I rooted it. Before I gave it out to be reused I flashed it back to normal but I thought we might be seeing some aftereffect of the rooting. The powering off thing...it used to do that when I had it, something to do with the battery. Researching the camera issue and playing with it myself convinced me that the camera unit itself was faulty. A little research on eBay showed that I could buy a new one for about $5.00.

I thought that I would back everything up, then flash stock Android onto it to make absolutely sure it was stock. During the back-up process process I found a nice app that backed-up SMS messages, so I had it back up to her external MicroSD card (I had put a 32 GB card in the phone). I copied all her photos etc. and everything else I could find, then I thought that instead of flashing it with a  stock ROM, I'd start with a simple factory reset. I did that, got it basically set up again and tested the camera...still messed up. Must be the camera hardware.

I started watching You-tube videos regarding the Note 4 tear-down, to see how hard camera replacement was. It seemed do-able though tricky...the mid frame of the phone was adhered by some adhesive and it looked difficult to pry it loose (without breaking the glass). You'd also have to remove the motherboard as the camera connector is (of course) on the back of it, but that didn't look too bad. So I ordered this:

I could have gotten the slightly cheaper one, but I wanted the cheap disassembly tools. I assumed it was an OEM camera but then I read the fine print:

"Guaranteed to be original quality."   ie not OEM original.

"Must be installed by a professional."   Seriously? Oh, that's me.

It arrived and I settled down to swap it in one morning. I removed all 16 tiny screws inside the back cover and started to use the prying tools to pry the mid frame away from the screen. Extremely creepy. Slow going and at some point it felt that I wasn't far away from breaking the screen. And I do not like manhandling a delicate phone. I had to stop and went out to work on the garage door for a while. When I came back to it, I reassembled the phone (without the screws) and powered it up to see if I had damaged it. it worked fine. Then I fired up the camera and left it on long enough to see it jitter just to be sure it was not working. Relieved,  I started disassembling it again. I took my sweet  time, re-watched the video, added force where it would work and the frame came loose, miraculously, without apparently damaging the screen. 

Much much relieved, I turned my attention to the motherboard. One screw, a number of connectors and some prying. For a bit it appeared like there was some glue holding it on, but prying got it loose. I removed the old camera and added the new one, carefully re-positioned the motherboard and finger popped the connectors back. Then I snapped the mid frame back, added the battery and powered it on. There was the familiar burst of vibration  on start but nothing on the screen...panic! What did I do? I popped out the battery to stop it and thought, deeply. It was booting but there was nothing on the screen...was the screen not getting a signal? Where did the screen attach to the MB? I don't remember the connector. I re-watched the tear-down video and saw that it was a hefty connector behind the MB and I had applied no pressure from the front at this point, so I assumed that was the problem. It HAD to be.

The frame came loose much easier this time, and I flipped off enough connectors to see behind the MB and there was the video connector, just where they said it would be. I carefully re-positioned the motherboard back, and pressed all the connectors in until I felt the "snap" of their engagement, including pressing on the MB where the video connector was (and I thought I felt the  snap). I then snapped the frame back together, put the battery in and press the button...a burst of vibration AND the screen comes alive.,...what a burst of relief!  I let it boot and started the camera....worked! Rock solid! This is a picture from its new camera (of a Galaxy Note 3 with the back off):

Not bad, eh?

Everything worked beautifully, the camera seemed fine. My god, I actually managed to repair something uneventfully, 100% Will wonders never cease?